Sony DRU-120A DVD+RW+R Writer and Hitachi 505 Player

[Gillete]

I can burn a movie on DVD+RW, but they will NOT play in my stand-alone Hitachi 505 player. I have re-burned 1 movie 4 times and for some reason on the 2nd burn (only), it played in the Hitachi 505... I don't know why. I was trying to get the bitset utility to work, but don't think it worked. That second time that it played on the Hitachi, I don't remember what I did differently, maybe used NERO 5.590 instead of the software than I used before???

Someone on DVDplusrw.org forum said that I need to flash the Sony in order to get the bitset utility to work. They told me how to make the Sony a newer version ROM and it will end up being identified as a Ricoh +RW/+R drive. But, the instructions are difficult to follow, so I haven't been able to do that either. And, I do have a flash for the Hitachi from Hitachi Syndicate. But, I am not sure if that would do any good. The +RW movie plays fine in the computer's DVD player... no problem. And, yes, I do have some +R disks, but saving them until I am ready to go final with my movies. Got to get the +RW disk to work in my Hitachi, somehow.

So, I am stuck.

Got any suggestions, comments, or recommendations, please? to robert.filberth@t-online.de THANKS ! Not looking forward to buying a new DVD player, but may have to.

[terjeber]

I don't remember what I did differently, maybe used NERO 5.590 instead of the software than I used before???

This may well be the problem. What software are you using to burn the DVDs? Are you using the bundled (or should I say bungled) neoDVD? I have tried to burn with that and DVDs burned with it has not played on a single DVD player I have tried. There is apparently an update to neo on their site, but I haven't tried it. I do not like it.

Burning with ULead DVD Workshop has not been a problem at all. Plays on anything I have tested it on.

[Gillete]

Terjeber:

I just noticed that you also have the Sony 120A. So, you are using DVD Workshop 1.0. Did you apply the update Ulead burner patch to 1.0? Or, did you apply the upgrade patch to version 1.2? Both are on Ulead's web site for downloading.

Oh well, that's beside the point. Point is that your drive is working OK and disks play on DVD players. Yes, I was using neoDVD for at least 1 of the 4 burns that I have done so far. And, I was using DVD Workshop for at least 1 of the 4 burns, also. I will try DVD Workshop again. It's the only one that I have been able to find that doesn't re-encode a perfectly fine MPEG2 file. But, its version 1.2 that does that and I haven't been able to apply this patch yet... it says that it can't find DVD Workshop on my HDD... tried 2 times to uninstall and reinstall, but same results. I think version 1.0 re-encodes a perfectly good MPEG2 file... too bad. I encode using Cinema Craft Encoder, VBR, then multiplex the video and audio with TMPGEnc... should be excellent video and synched audio.

Another problem could be my Hitachi player. But, it did play 1 of the 4 burned movies, but the video wasn't real good and it studdered in places. Its 2 years old, but played SVCD everytime... but I know that DVD+RW disks are different.